In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Welcome!  I’m so glad that you’re here.  It’s a singular day . . . we have special guests joining us in worship (how delighted we are that you’re here!) . . . we’re having a terrific arts and crafts show and sale (and a bake sale!) following the service . . . AND it’s All Saints’ Day.  The day that we remember the heroes of our faith.  Yes indeed, a wonderful day.

So . . . speaking of saints . . . have ya MET any lately?  Don’t be skeptical.  There might be one or two sitting right here this morning.  I truly do think it’s possible.  But, if there ARE a few saints lurking among us, how would we know?  I don’t know that it’s always easy to tell, to recognize a saint right away . . . I mean halos do seem to be in short supply these days.

Just what makes a saint?  How do you become one? Just who IS a saint?

Of course, in the early church, everyone was a saint . . . at least this seems to be the case in Paul’s letters.  If you were a Christian, you were a saint . . . the words were synonymous.  But pretty quickly the word ‘saint’ began to be used to identify special people . . . not just everyday Christians but people with a special kind of heroic sanctity.  I imagine that you and I, when asked the question, “what’s a saint?” would probably answer the question easily.  We’d probably say something like, “A saint is a really holy person.  Duh.”  But what’s that REALLY mean?  What does it mean if we say that someone is really holy?  If you think about it for a moment, you’ll realize that different people have answered this question in different ways at different times.  There are actually lots of different kinds of saints . . . and lots of different kinds of holiness.

The idea of saints being really special, really holy people began to develop in the 2^nd century when the Romans began to get worried about this new-fangled religion and started to try to discourage converts by killing Christians.  Martyrdom was the first kind of sainthood that arose in the popular imagination.  But the sainthood movement – or the cult of the saints, if you will – really began to grow in the 4^th century when the first great monastic leaders began to show up . . . people like Anthony of Egypt and Martin of Tours.

If you consider the history of saints, or of sainthood, it seems that different kinds of saints arise in different times.  That makes sense doesn’t it?  As the world changes – as the needs and context of the Christian community changes – it makes sense that different kinds of saints would arise.  As the Christian movement changed from being a persecuted sect to being the state religion, people’s sense of saintly holiness changed.  We can see an evolution of sorts.  The early church was a church of social exclusion and drew forth martyrs.  By the 12^th century however, when all of Europe was essentially Christian and great monastic orders were being founded by people like Bernard of Clairvaux, the church drew forth saints who voluntarily withdrew from the world and practiced radical self-denial. 

When you really start to think about it, there are a bunch of different kinds of saints.  There are Francis and Dominic in the 13^th century, each of whom were zealous evangelists spreading the Good News of Christ.  There are saints like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, who recognized the importance of learning in the formation of Christian civilization, and are known as Doctors of the Church.  In the 17^th century, there’s a crop of philanthropic saints which appears – like Vincent de Paul – people who are especially devoted to the care of the poor.  I could go on, but you get the picture.  Different places and different times seem to draw forth all sorts of different kinds of saints who stand in sharp contrast to each other.  All different sorts of people can become all different sorts of saints.  You don’t even have to be nice to be a saint . . . if you know anything about St. Jerome, you know that he was an awful curmudgeon!

So . . . Just what DOES make a saint?  How do you become one?

Well, it’s beginning to seem to me that time and place are critical in shaping what kind of saint is needed.  But there’s one additional thing that’s even more crucial to the creation of a saint.  Ya have to want it.

I’ll make a confession to you.  When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a saint.  I didn’t want to be a fireman or a policeman . . . I DID kinda want to drive cars and build buildings . . . but what I REALLY wanted to be was a saint.  I never told anybody about this when I was young.  I’m not stupid.  And even as a little boy, I knew that my goal was . . . unusual.  And besides, pretty soon I decided that WANTING to be a saint already meant that I couldn’t BE a saint.  My picture of sainthood was one of self-effacement and self-denial . . . you couldn’t want anything for yourself and still be a saint . . . so, you see, WANTING to be a saint, already meant that I couldn’t BE a saint.  A real Catch-22 . . . so there really WAS no point in telling anyone about my desire.

But now I’m not so certain.  In fact, it seems to me that I might have been exactly wrong.  Preparing for this sermon I came across a homily written by a Roman Catholic deacon, Greg Kandra, which reminded me of a story about Thomas Merton.  Some of you know about Merton . . . as a young man in crisis he converted to Roman Catholicism, became a monk, wrote some books of great spiritual insight, and is, in fact, now considered by some to be a saint.  The story I was reminded of comes from the period just after Merton’s conversion in the late 1930s.  Merton was walking the streets of New York with his friend, Robert Lax.  Lax was Jewish, and he asked Merton what he wanted to be, now that he was Roman Catholic.

"I don't know," Merton replied, adding simply that he wanted to be a good Catholic.

Lax stopped him in his tracks.   "What you should say," he told him, "is that you want to be a saint!"

Merton was dumbfounded.  "How do you expect me to become a saint?" Merton asked him.

Lax said, "All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one.  Don't you believe that God will make you what God created you to be, if you will consent to it?  All you have to do is desire it."

All you have to do is desire it. 

Maybe I’m showing my age, but it seems to me that our world today is especially messed up.  Rather than needing one or two particular kinds of saints, I have a feeling that our world today needs all sorts of different kinds of saints.  We need joyful evangelists to spread the Good News.  We need people of prayer to sustain us.  We need scholars and teachers to help us understand and articulate our faith.  We need generous philanthropists to help us care for the poor.  We need artists to inspire us.  We need all different kinds of saints today.  We probably even need a curmudgeon or two.

We need you.  And all you have to do is desire it.

Perhaps the early church was right . . . at least in part.  We know that all Christians are not saints . . . at least not the kind of saints that we usually think of when we use that word . . . but perhaps we are all MEANT to be saints.  Each and every one of us has been given so many gifts by God . . . all for the glory of God.  We’re meant to use those gifts . . . and become the most fully developed people we can be.  But not just for our own benefit.  We’re given our gifts to share them for the common good . . . all for the glory of God. 

All we have to do is to want to become saints . . . to desire it.  I don’t think we need to worry about what KIND of saint we’ll become.  That will be determined by the time and place we live in, the circumstances that surround us, and by the particular gifts that God has given us.  God will work out the details.  God always does.  But first we have to WANT it.

On this day when we remember all the saints . . . all the heroic people of faith who have gone before us.  Let us also recognize the saintliness that dwells within us . . . within each of us . . . and let us pray to God for the grace to grow into the saints that we are created to be. 

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